Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-08-19
A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT.
One ffufidtAd E1eursIonists Hurled Into
EternIry-As Many More Wounded.

An excursion train, composed Of 16 carr
and two engines, bound for Niagara Falk
from Peoria, ILL.,, went through bridge near
Chatsworth, ILL., OF the 1000 passengers, over
100 were instantly killed and as many more
wounded. The scenes defy description. The
accident no sooner occurred than q band OF
brutes began robbing the corpses. They are
supposed to be the pickpockets, etc, who &C.
companied the excursion. The engineer OF
the second engine had his head cot clsanly
of
81 was reused, " said a passenger, "by the
smashing of glass and the breaking Of car
timbers and by shrieks of pain and cries for
help, Our car had been telescoped and was
standing nearly on end, one end being 25
feet in the air. Ibroke window and man
aged to slide down the side. Others of our
party did the same; the car was sight; the
top parted the sides crushed in. At the time
of the accident there were 80 in
the car. Six of us -, got out
aliEssk-- IL was horrible. There were
hardly any lights to be had. There was no
water. The cars caught fire. Willow switches
and earth were used to put the flames out
with. | saw most pathetic sights, parents
carrying dead children in their arms, chill
dren clamoring for their parents, wounded
persons crawling painfully into the adjacent
cornfelds, and cries for water and for help
prevailing on all sides. A woman sitting I'M
front of me had her head taken off. Six
young men from Canton In the front car were
saved by being thrown by the shock through
the parted rocfn
One of the horrible sights was man well
dressed, who was so badly injured that his
bowels were prstruding. He called inces-
| sanity for water and as he could not be at
| tanIa1 to ho finally Yo,1lia1 O11t his roCllVpr
and shot himself through the head.
One little boy, the son of Methodist
minister, was found on the bosom of his dead
mother. His left leg hung by the skin, his
right arm was broken and one eye was put
out He never uttered a groan. They
| drink of brandy. He refused
to take it, and said: "Give me water"
One incident of the accident stood out more
horrible than all of those horrible scenes. In
the second coach was man, his wife and
little child His name could not be learned,
but it is said he got on at Peoria. When the
accident occurred, the entire family of three
was caught and held down by broken wood
work. Finally, when relief came, the man
turned to the friend and feebly said;
Take out my wife first; I'm afraid the
chilCSSs dead
So they carried out the mother, and as q
broken seat was taken from her breast, the
blood which welled from her lips told how
badly she was hurt They carried the child, &,
her in the corn field, dead, alongside of her
dying mother. Then they went back for tho
father and brought him out. Both his legs
were broken, but he crawled through the
corn to the side of his wife, and, feeling her
loved features in the darkness, pressed some
brandy to her lips and asked her how she
felt. A feeble groan was the only answer,
| on1 tho VT instant che 6ia1 The fplk
the forms of his dead wife and child, and
cried out: "My God, there is nothing moro
for me to live for now," and taking a pistol
out of his pocket, pulled the trigger. Tho
bullet went through his brain and the three
dead bodies of that little family were lying
side by side waiting to be identified.
The belief steadily gains ground that the
accident was caused by robbers. While it is
hard to credit human beings, however de-
praved with such fiendish motives yet the
wholesale plunder indulged in by the brutes
after the accident would tend to support this
! theory. The band was doubtless organized,
as pile of 16 empty purses might indicate.
Efforts are being made to fix the response
sibility There is every evidence that as far
as the road is concerned the bridge and track
were all right. The last train, before the i'll
| fated excursion, passed the bridge at p. nj.
An hour or so later an order was received and
executed regarding inspecting track and
bridgein in view of the heavy train coming. Tho
train was an hour and half late, which left
ample time for the execution of the devilish act
if it had been planned The list of dead and
wounded is appalling, and the most of them
are residents of Peoria, ILL.,, and points to the
west of that city.
gentleman, in commenting on the action
taken by the road in helping the wounded,
has been pretty generally condemned. 1t is
reported that the wounded and dying were
left on the ground all night in hard rain,
with no relief except what they could obtain
from each other. The investigation was re-
sumed in Peoria, ILL.,, at the companys office.
Under the laws of Illinois, if the road is
found responsible for the accident, the claims
on the dead will, it is said, be SS5O,000, and
of the injured $250000 more. The road only
passed into the hands of it's present manage
ment on July of the present year, and this
demand on the treasury means bankruptcy,
if they have to pay for it. 1t is asserted that
the road is realizing from $4,000 to $4,000
per month. Under the circumstances the
road will probably fight every claim.
As light begins to shed on all points bear
ing on the accident the facts assume differ
ent aspect 1t is asserted that instead of the
fire being caused by robbers it was ignited by
the fires of the section hands, who neglected
to extinguish them, when they quit work in
the evening. The robbery theory seems to
credited by but few in the vicinity of the ae-
| clQenb OUTSIDE U0e OllClalS Oh Une TOdu. III
deed, it is asserted that several watches and
jewelry, supposed to have been stolen, have
been found in the debris.
dispatch from Champaign, Ill. says: J:
O. Baker, president of the Illinois Society OF
Engineers and professor of civil engineering
in the university of Illinois, after careful
personal examination Of engineering prob
lens of the Chatsworth disaster, says:
tThe incendiary theory has no founda-
tion whatever. | am unable personally to
find any citizens of Chatsworth who have
seen suspicious characters lettering about, as
required by that theory. The flames of the
burning culvert were plainly seen from
Chatsworth at intervals for several hours
before the accident. From the lay OF
land they must have risen five or six feet
above the track to have been seen so far.
The culvert itself was of the usual build, and
abundant strength to carry the train, but foI
the fire, which had destroyed the lower por
ton" He added that he thought it probable
the fire left by the section men late in the af-
ternoon, who, by their own testimony, ad-
mitted that there was burning grass only &C
rods away, was driven down to the culvert
when they left by slight change of wind
Otherwise, it is possible that sparks from the
special train of the superintendent of bridges,
the last train before the fatal excursion
kindled in the grass near the culvert, and
burned slowly for long time, and finally
fred the culvert.